MARBLETOWN — Charles and Francesca Noble didn't dub their place the Movable Beast Farm for nothing.

And Friday found the beasts on the move — all 74 cows, steers and heifers.

They trekked two miles under a highway, across streams, up the proverbial rolling hill, down into a hemlock forest, and out again into the fragrant tall grass of a fresh pasture.

"We try to duplicate what they do in the wild: They eat and they move on," Francesca Noble said of the routine of moving the beef cattle between nearly a dozen pastures belonging to her farm, farming neighbors and weekenders whose retreats include unused grasslands.

The Nobles were at work before 6 a.m. Friday. It was imperative, they said, that the cattle pass a neighbor's barn before his dairy cows made their appearance.

If not, the herds would be inclined to visit with one another, throwing both farms off schedule. They also had to hustle so a neighbor who was helping, poultry farmer Ryan Fitzgerald, could get to the post office for a shipment of chicks.

Friday's two-mile "cow walk," as the Nobles call it, was one of the longest they do with the herd. They began preparing days earlier by lining the route with black and white cord to keep the cattle headed in the right direction.

Charles Noble set the walk in motion with the best vocal imitation of a cow that he could muster. He strolled toward the herd through waist-high grass, mooing now and again. The cattle didn't seem much interested at first.

"The thing is, they're in the middle of their rest period," Francesca Noble said.

It wasn't long before bellows rose from the herd.

"See, now they're calling back to him, and they're starting to call back to each other, too," Francesca Noble said.

Older cows used to the routine got the youngsters in line. The herd was on the move.

As they came to the first of two streams to cross, the herd came to a halt as if at a red light. Four young, inexperienced cows had balked at entering the water. They needed an elder to lead them across.

Once they got moving, it was hard for two-legged creatures to keep up.

They moved steadily past the cow barn with time to spare, down a muddy slope leading to a concrete tunnel under Route 209, then up a hill before pausing for a grassy snack.

The herd was comfortably in place at the new pasture off Old Kings Highway shortly before 9 a.m. — about 90 minutes from the start. They'll stay there for about three weeks before retracing the route to pastures previously grazed.

"That way, the fields will have had a chance to regrow," Francesca Noble said.